Unity-Struggle-Transformation: On Revolutionary Organization, Leadership and Cadre Development (Revised)

Introduction

The object of a revolutionary organization is to unite (and unite with), mobilize, organize, and lead masses of oppressed people to achieve fundamental economic, political and social change and collective security. Founded in 2005, the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC) arose within the most oppressed strata of U.S. society, the imprisoned masses, to take up the banner of revolutionary struggle on behalf of New Afrikans and all oppressed and exploited people. We aspire to become, but are not yet, a functional vanguard party of the oppressed.

We will be formally constituted once we transition to the outside, build bases in the oppressed communities, hold a founding convention and elect a free world central committee and an executive committee (politburo). We will be functionally constituted only when the oppressed urban masses embrace us as their revolutionary leadership.

Even while we remain a primarily prison-based organization, we have an important revolutionary role to play which is to transform the slave pens of oppression into schools of liberation. This is the first phase of our Party’s strategy, along with transforming the oppressed communities into base areas of cultural, social and political revolution in the context of building a worldwide united front against capitalist-imperialism. The two aspects of our strategy are dialectically related and will advance the overall strategy of advancing the World Proletarian Socialist Revolution.

At this point, comrades are learning and struggling for ideological and political clarity on how to build and consolidate the Party’s structure and a mass anti-racist, anti-imperialist and revolutionary movement around it. There are issues we need to work out relating to organizing on both the inside and outside. There are issues, some of them long-standing, that have been raised by our supporters and detractors we need to address. Some of these people do not understand, or refuse to accept, the need for revolutionary leadership, discipline and organization. There is also the question of who should be in leadership positions and how to achieve a balance between democracy and centralism.

On Organization and Security

The term “organizing” is often used loosely on the Left, especially by those who oppose forming, joining or subordinating themselves to any sort of disciplined political organization. Although they may exhort the virtues of “solidarity,” they actually practice extreme individualism, which runs counter to building a movement for collective social change.

Obviously, one cannot be a political organizer and not be part of a political organization. One implies the other. An organization is a body of people—not one person acting alone—who share common purpose and goals and have an organizational structure. The members must perform certain functions assigned to them that advance the purpose of the organization. This calls for leadership and a degree of discipline or everyone will be acting individually without accountability or responsibility, which is the definition of disorganization, and this leads to the opposite of “solidarity.”

Joining and remaining in an organization involves important considerations, such as whether one trusts, believes in, agrees with, and understands the organization’s purpose and goals. To the more mature and committed members, these are issues of special concern and determine whether they will whole-heartedly commit themselves on a long-term basis to the organization and its goals and purpose. Transparency is therefore important so people know, understand and trust the organization and what it is about. Without this, the organization cannot have even the foundations for ‘security.’

Comrade Safiya Bukhari, a former BPP and BLA cadre explains:

“By definition, security means freedom from danger, fear and anxiety. Individual and organizational safety and well-being begin with the knowledge of what you’re about, what the organization is about, your limitations, your strengths and the organization’s strengths. Knowledge is the key to security. History has shown that the best security depends on the internal strength of the organization and the internal principles of the people who make up the organization.”1

As an example of solid organizational and individual principles, she points to the creed of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA), which states, “I will steal nothing from a brother or sister, cheat no brother or sister, misuse no brother or sister, inform on no brother or sister and spread no gossip.” These principles, she observed, express…

“an extremely important component of individual and organizational security. The knowledge that the person next to you—the person working beside you—will not cheat you, lie and spread gossip about you is the basis for your feeling secure in your environment and within your organization. The ability to trust your comrades implicitly and to know with certainty what they will do in any circumstance is the best security.

“The question then, is how do we get to this point? It begins with knowing what you’re about— what you want and what you believe and how far you will go to obtain it. The reciprocal reality is knowing what the organization is about. If the purpose and mission of the organization is clear, nto subject to interpretation, then people joining will not be able to say that they thought the organization was about one thing when they joined only to find out later it was about something totally different.

“This means that both the individual and the organization must be open and honest.”2

Our Party’s rules embrace standards akin to the RNA creed, which actual and potential members must know and obey. An important criteria of Party recruitment is that one’s internal principles be proven to be compatible with the Party’s. The comrades also must know, understand, and commit themselves to our Ten Point Program and Platform, which clearly sets out “what we want” and “what we believe.” They must also understand and adhere to our ideological philosophy, which is Historical and Dialectical Materialism (HDM) and not some form of subjective idealism, such as dogmatism, sentimentalism, pragmatism or metaphysics.

HDM begins with the premise that objective reality exists independent of our understanding it, and that concrete analysis of concrete conditions—tested in practice—is the only true foundation for political theory. It teaches us that everything is in motion and that quantitative changes give rise to qualitative leaps of development. An historical understanding of a thing’s development and understanding the internal contradictions and the effect of things happening in connection to it enables us to see the potentiality to accelerate its development.

All things develop and transform through the struggle between their contradictory aspects. Evolution gives rise to revolution. One divides into two creating a new unity of opposites. Revolution is the main trend in the world.

Prior to recruitment in to the Party, comrades must prove themselves to be serious and dedicated to the struggle. They must stand tall and be willing to stand firm in the face of adversity and repression and be able to withstand isolation and even torture. Their commitment to advancing the struggle to victory must be that of a “professional revolutionary,” who carries on when others falter or flee to safety and comfort. Their credo must be “for self nothing, for the masses everything!” Only comrades of this caliber will win the trust of the masses and make our party the true vanguard of the revolution. The Party has no private agenda to pursue. It exists solely to serve the people. It must never alienate itself from them nor set itself above them but rather seek their supervision and guidance. It is their party, not ours. In all things it must uphold and practice the Mass Line.

This work calls for planning, discipline and accountability. To proceed without a plan, without discipline and order is counter-productive and irresponsible. Our individual moral outrage and our love for the people should be the fuel that powers our actions, but our actual course of action should be based upon a strategic plan and carried out with iron discipline and organizational coordination. All this requires strong organizational leadership.

On Leadership

No revolutionary movement can hope to succeed without a strong revolutionary leadership, and no one can be permitted to participate in such a movement who is not willing to commit themselves to following the leadership and accepting the discipline required by the struggle. To think otherwise is idealism and opportunism. As already discussed, an organizer belongs and is loyal to an organization. The organization collectively devises ways to achieve certain goals. The organizer is in fact a leader. This is especially true when the work of the organizer is influencing and affecting people outside the organization among the broad masses of the people. So the organizer leads others, whether for good or ill, and regardless of whether or not they admit to being a leader and accept the responsibility that goes with that.

The same truth applies to individuals outside of organizations who seek to inform, motivate and guide the actions of others. They are in fact leaders and bear responsibilities.

But in as much as a revolutionary organization that seeks to lead a mass movement must have leaders, these leaders must win the consent of those who they seek to lead. It must be earned by proven merit and consistent practice. They must listen to and learn from the masses if they seek to teach and be listened to—we must be both teachers and students! As students, we learn from the masses about their conditions, needs and concerns, and being of the oppressed masses ourselves, we share their conditions alongside them on a daily basis. We must attentively listen to their views, learn from their strengths, and remain close to them. If we think they are wrong, we must patiently explain why after hearing them out. But we don’t know everything, so we must be good at listening and learning, accept criticism and correcting our mistakes. As teachers, we take the masses’ raw and unorganized ideas and by applying HDM and our understanding of this oppressive system as a whole, return their ideas to them in the form of programs, examples and solutions which involve and empower them. This is the essence of the Mass Line!

In this dialectical relationship of student and teacher, leader and masses, we don’t quibble over assuming the role of leader because it is inherently impossible to teach and influence people’s thoughts and actions without assuming a leadership role. Since we are constantly teaching and learning, we are always giving or accepting leadership. So unlike those “Leftists” who shun the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary line, we don’t reject the role and responsibility of leaders and leadership. Indeed, we recognize that in class-divided society, the thinking of every person and group reflects the ideas of the dominant class in part or in whole, and as soon as any person or group speaks out or puts pen to paper to influence others they assume the authority of leadership. In as much as their ideas reflect the teaching and indoctrination of the ruling class, they’re serving that class in its dictatorship over society.

Conversely, in as much as they have freed their minds of this indoctrination and revolutionized their thinking, their speaking out or putting pen to paper is an act of revolutionary leadership. That’s what revolutionary organizers do, they teach about and they learn from the masses how we oppressed people can become our own liberators. Revolutionary leadership is what Panthers are about.

M-L-M illuminates the revolutionary line of our Party and the United Panther Movement (UPM). M-L-M scientifically sums up the lessons of the class struggle and the experience of revolutionary proletariat from the mid-19th Century to the present through the application of HDM by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and many other revolutionary thinkers and leaders. Most particularly, our Party’s line is illuminated by the work of the original BPP, particularly Huey P. Newton, Fred Hampton and

George Jackson, New Afrikan freedom fighters like WEB DuBois, Malcolm X and Walter Rodney, as well as Afrikan revolutionaries such as Amilcar Cabral, Frantz Fanon and Kwame Nkrumah.

Intelligent people who desire to change the world seek to learn from the contributions of others and to illuminate their practice with the most advanced and scientific understanding of revolutionary theory. Who among us who oppose this oppressive system based upon human exploitation do not aspire to influence the ideas, and by extension the actions, of others in relation to this system? Therefore it is deception to claim that we do not aspire to be or approve of leaders. And who would deny that revolution is the ultimate act of authority?

There is actually a class basis for this sort of thinking. Furthermore, consider how absurd it would be for a teacher to challenge and change your beliefs (say about capitalism for example) that affect how you perceive and relate to the world at the most fundamental levels and tell you go forth and apply these teachings to change the world and then deny they were giving you leadership? How much more absurd if they did not plug you into an organization and movement of like-minded people? Leadership and organization go hand in hand.

Here is what distinguishes genuine revolutionary teachers from elitist philosophers: The revolutionary teacher not only consciously teaches what is wrong in the world but they also lead in correcting it, building organization among the masses to create a new reality, teaching by example and participation.

Mao Tse-tung summed up this Marxist line saying: “Marxist philosophy holds that the most important problem does not lie in understanding the laws of the objective world and thus being able to explain it, but in applying these laws actively to change the world….only social practice can be the criterion of truth.”

This is where the traditional “Left” falls short. In the manner of petty bourgeois intellectuals, they analyze, criticize, and interpret the world in various ways, but they fail to bring their analysis down to the level of practical application to change the oppressive conditions. At best, they resort to individual counter-cultural or academic rebelliousness which does nothing to organize or empower the masses. It is all about self-validation and feeling good about their radical self-identity.

And why?

Because their class stand prevents it, which is the principal reason why many of them reject the need for and function of a revolutionary leadership. While in fact they act as leaders and teachers of the class stand of those who talk about but don’t dare to organize to solve the problems of the oppressed class—namely the petty bourgeoisie, the so-called “middle class.” Deep down, many of these “radicals” don’t want to change things in any fundamental way because they have privileges and comforts under the status quo and dread of the exercise of power from below.

So while they protest and arouse the discontent of others, they don’t want to start something that will empower the poor and go all the way to overthrowing the dictatorship of the rich. They only want to protest the things that oppress and disempower them. This leaves the people without all-the-way leadership, which leads to spontaneous rebellions subject to both co-option and violent suppression, leading to demoralization of the masses and continued business as usual for the exploiting class.

We have seen this cycle repeated over and over in the oppressed communities and prisons. This is why we created the New Afrikan Black Panther Party—Prison Chapter and the United Panther Movement, because we recognized the need for a truly revolutionary vanguard party and movement. Vanguard means “out in front.” We saw things were not going to change until people got serious and took on the responsibility to lead the people’s struggle to victory.

On the Practice of Cadres

A revolutionary vanguard is only as strong and solid as its members or cadre, who must be rooted among the masses in struggle. Thus it is vital that the cadre be good at communicating and connecting with other oppressed people. They must be the natural leaders of the people whom others look to and seek the opinions of. Her or his love for the people must run deep. As Ché Guevara once said: “Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that a true revolutionary is motivated by great feelings of love.” However, the work of a revolutionary is not measured by motive alone.

“How can we tell the good from the bad—by the motive (the subjective intention) or by the effect (social practice)? Idealists stress motive and ignore effect, while mechanical materialists stress effect and ignore motive. In contradiction to both, we dialectical materialists insist on unity of motive and effect. The motive of serving the masses is inseparably linked with winning their approval; the two must be united. The motive of serving the individual or a small clique is not good, nor is it good to have the motive of serving the masses without the effect of winning their approval and benefiting them. In examining the subjective intention of a writer or artist, that is, whether his motive is correct or good, we do not judge by his declarations but by the effects of his actions (mainly his works) on the masses in society. The criteria for judging subjective intention or motive is social practice and its effect.”3

Of course not everyone among the people will be receptive, interested in intellectual and political growth, or even friendly.We have found, however, that at this time, many prisoners are, but they are hampered by limited access to literature and information and rules that strictly limit what they may receive and how much property they may keep. So collective pooling of materials and cadre-led study circles within the prisons are very important. On the other hand, many do not have a high degree of literacy or think reading is not “cool.” So, it is important we do verbal agitation and organize discussions, particularly on the yard.

Cadre must be patient, sensitive and tolerant, and most important, be good at listening. Some prisoners have been beaten down to where they have withdrawn into themselves and we must reach them before we can teach them. Others are so full of rage that they reject reason and are locked into individualistic and self-destructive behavior.

To serve the people we must take a genuine interest in them and demonstrate Panther Love towards them. Don’t just talk at people or expect them to open up to you right away. We must strive to understand where they are at and what their concerns are to build a relationship of camaraderie with them. One can always find some points of common interest. Our politics flow from our love for the people and represent the highest interests of humanity, so they naturally uplift and inspire people once we get their attention.

Most all of our cadre will be capable communicators, although one should struggle to excel in this area. It was actually in prison that Fidel Castro developed his exceptional abilities as a motivational speaker. Fred Hampton, another exceptional communicator, once said: “I listen to anyone who speaks well.” it is important that we are able to reach people’s deepest feelings and longings.

Whether good speakers or not, all of our cadre will have specific skills that they can work on and develop to serve the struggle and enhance the effectiveness of our Party. As in any organization, everyone has contributions to make and a part to play.

“No one person can do everything, but every person can do something—and all jobs are more or less equally important. That is, the ‘soldier’ is no more important (may in fact be less important) than the person putting out the newsletter, or the person organizing the students, or the person agitating on issues such as no-rent housing, or people’s control of the air waves…”4

And not all cadre will be equally advanced in applying the principles of HDM to problem-solving. At this point, many cadre have very little or no training or understanding of this revolutionary science, due to our loose organization in the prisons and difficulty in obtaining suitable study materials, which we must resolutely struggle to overcome. Because to apply any method of study other than a correct application of HDM will inevitably lead to the errors of dogmatism or some other form of subjective idealism. Therefore, it is of primary importance that the leading cadre master this method and train others to train others. Like shooting at a target, proper instruction and practice makes all the difference.

It is also imperative for the organizational life of our Party and creating the caliber of leadership that can lead the masses to take history into their hands that we train our cadre to excel at every aspect of party building, mass organization, and the strategy and tactics of creating a worldwide united front against capitalist-imperialism. The Party and mass organizations it creates and builds must be strong structures with strong internal unity and able to withstand overt repression and attempted covert disruption by the agents of repression.

The mass organizations must have a strong democratic character and be rooted in the oppressed communities where our mass work is concentrated. We must be good at bringing people in to participate in our events and programs and at reaching out to all strata and groupings of the people in the communities; in particular the youth, women, veterans and members of lumpen street organizations, families of prisoners, as well as workers old and young. The New Afrikan Black Panther Party must be broadly based in the communities.

All of this is important to do effective organizing, but what is key is revolutionary leadership. Cadre must be thoroughly knowledgeable on many subjects and able to converse intelligently one on one or in front of a group. To enhance our ability to serve, and learn from, the people, cadre must expand their all-around knowledge through study and following the news. In all things we must seek to uncover the truth, which requires investigation.

Collective leadership is key to building a strong party and movement. Collective wisdom brought out through democratic discussion on every level of the Party helps us to uncover the truth and illuminate our practice. An army of “professionals” will try to misdirect and discredit us as they do every liberation movement. This too highlights the importance of collective leadership and inner-party democracy, where we pool our knowledge and experience to collectively arrive at truth and make sound decisions.

We must follow Sun Tzu’s direction to “know your enemy and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never face defeat.” This applies at all levels—strategic and tactical—and on all fronts—cultural, educational, economic, political and military. It is especially important in cadre development. Because to have cadre assigned to roles where their particular strengths are going to apply is conducive to achieving the Party’s goals. We must be good as assessing comrades’ strengths and weaknesses and at using their strengths to overcome their weaknesses.

By knowing the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, we shall know where to assail and where to avoid him, and we shall not become arrogant after a few successes nor despondent after a few losses. When we are able to remain objective in the fact of both victories and defeats and can adjust our tactics accordingly, there is no such thing as an unbeatable foe nor an insurmountable obstacle to victory. The use of wrong tactics is generally caused by failure to objectively analyze conditions in the first place.

We must be mindful not to hold ourselves up as authorities on matters we have not investigated thoroughly. “No investigation, no right to speak,” is Mao’s famous dictum. When it becomes apparent we lack necessary information to make a good decision, we should seek it out without hesitation.

“To put forward a correct political line for the new Party, we must have concrete analysis of concrete conditions on the major questions: class struggle, the national question, trade union work, the woman question, the international situation, etc.”5

On Cadre Purpose

As already pointed out, cadre are the component parts of the vanguard party and its basic units, which are the Party collectives. Together they form the “nervous system” of the movement, linking the Party’s HQ with all its parts.

The cadre must be good at building bases of support for the revolution among the people (winning the masses to the Party’s revolutionary line and organizing them into mass organizations that advance the revolutionary struggle), and be prepared to do what the Party requires of them to the best of their abilities. A revolutionary movement can only be as effective as its leadership prepares it to be. As Mao pointed out, “When revolution fails, it is the fault of the vanguard party.” Therefore cadre development is crucial.

“We must purposely train tens of thousands of cadres and leaders versed in Marxism-Leninism, politically far-sighted, competent in work, full of spirit of self-sacrifice, capable of taking problems on their own and devoted to serving the nation, the cadres and the party. It is on these cadres and leaders that the party relies on its links with the membership and the masses, and it is relying on their firm leadership of the masses that the party can succeed in defeating the enemy. Such cadres and leaders must be free from selfishness, from individualistic heroism, ostentation, sloth, passivity, and sectarian arrogance, and they must be selfless, national and class heroes, such are the qualities and style of work demanded by the members, cadres and leaders of our party.” – Mao Tse-tung

Mao demonstrated the indispensability of good cadre in revolutionary struggle. So too did Amilcar Cabral, Afrika’s most outstanding revolutionary leader. As the founder of the revolutionary vanguard party of Guinea Bissau, the PAIGC,6 he proved that the development of revolutionary cadre is key to the success of a revolutionary movement. In 1959, oppressed workers Guinea Bissau plunged blindly and recklessly into armed revolt against the Portuguese colonialists. This disastrous failure led comrade Cabral to reassess the situation and their tactics. He then spent three years organizing and leading patient political education and doing preparatory work across the country, training a thousand party cadre.

“We prepared a number of cadre from the group [of pre-classed semi-intellectual urban youth], some from people employed in commerce and other wage-earners, and even some peasants, so that they could acquire what you might call a working class mentality….When these cadre returned to the rural areas they inculcated a certain mentality into the peasants, and it is among these cadre that we have chosen the people who are now leading the struggle.”7)

These PAIGC cadre reignited the struggle in 1963, winning and mobilizing immense and immediate mass support, which quickly liberated vast sections of the country from Portuguese control. By 1969, two-thirds of the countryside was liberated, and only five years later, Portuguese control was completely overthrown, even though Cabral had been assassinated by the Portuguese agents a year before. It was the cadre, trained and prepared by Cabral, that led the people to victory.

As we discussed in a previous article, the original Black Panther Party’s efforts to lead the mass struggle here in Amerika met with failure, largely because it neglected to train and root its members in revolutionary proletarian ideology.8) Instead, its cadre retained and acted upon the values and perspectives of other classes, particularly the lumpen-proletariat and urban petty bourgeoisie, and even tried to advance a lumpen (as opposed to proletarian) political theory to validate this.

Failures and reversals of revolutionary mass movements, here and around the world, have resulted, in large part, because of the failure to develop a solid core of revolutionary proletarian leadership. In the past, revolutionary movements have relied upon the petty-bourgeoisie to supply the intellectuals for leadership positions and this has proven to be a weakness, as these tend to be vacillating elements prone to right and “left” opportunism and revisionism.

Because of its position in class society, the petty-bourgeoisie vacillates between the bourgeoisie and laboring masses in outlook and interests. They have had the advantages of better education and standard of living over the poor and working masses, and though radicalized, they tend to retain bourgeois ideology and prejudices which they bring with them into the workers’ movement.

The petty-bourgeoisie have produced some fine revolutionary intellectuals and leaders for the revolutionary proletarian movement, such as Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Cabral, Nkrumah and so on, but on the whole, many more have been disappointments. As a class, they are not so ready to commit “class suicide,” as Cabral put it, and adopt the revolutionary perspective of the proletariat. Instead, they impose their own perspectives and prejudices on the movement and resist the development of all-the-way revolutionary class struggle and consciousness.

However, the development of the decline of capitalist-imperialism has called forth a strategy of mass incarceration in Amerika, aimed primarily at the New Afrikans and other people of color in the urban communities. Prisons have proven to be powerful settings for the creation of revolutionary intellectuals from the oppressed class, such as: Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, George Jackson, Hasan Shakur and James Yaki Sayles. Malcolm X even dubbed them the “poor man’s universities.”

Here, poor proletarians have both time to do deep study and to access revolutionary books and literature. This is what the NABPP-PC is tapping into and is the basis for our strategy of “turning the ‘slave pens of oppression’ into ‘schools of liberation’…,” which is taking our movement down a different path of development. Our object is not to indoctrinate prisoners with a political line from outside, but to develop the intellectual basis for formulating our own line and training cadre to provide leadership to build the movement on the outside, among the people in the oppressed communities, independent of the petty-bourgeois-dominated Left.

In training cadre, we need to do more than give them materials to read and expect them to spontaneously develop. We need to create Party-led study/discussion circles and an interactive study program as part of our strategy of transforming the prisons into ‘schools of liberation.’ We need to train prisoners to be critical and tactical thinkers. Cadre need to be flexible and apply critical analysis to developing and amending tactical plans. We need cadre to be creative and innovative in applying the Party’s general line.

We need to encourage cadre to go beyond learning a few basic concepts and develop in-depth understanding of all aspects of the struggle, strategy and tactics, different techniques and methods, and historical applications. Overall intellectual development must be stressed. Intellectual skills, such as doing research, writing and debating must be developed.

The Party should assimilate and circulate good ideas and practices from the cadre. We should develop information sharing through our newsletters and implement new ideas and practices that arise in our organizational work.

Cadre must be good at teaching organizational skills to others. They should also be conscious to set the best possible examples in character and conduct at all times. This is important because our role is not to exercise political power over the masses but to empower them. Our example must be of selfless dedication to the masses and their best interests, helping them to create and build institutions of people’s power in the communities and programs to serve their specific survival needs, enabling them to solve problems in their daily lives.

It is also why we must guard against allowing just anyone into the Party or to remain there if they don’t have the proper motivation and dedication. Party cadre should be more disciplined and self-sacrificing than ordinary people. People should look to them as role models. People tend to characterize a whole movement by what they observe in its members they have contact with. This places a heavy responsibility on each and every Panther cadre to always represent the Party in the best way.

If we deviate from the Party’s principles, discipline and program, people will think our Party is a joke, a sham and a hustle. They will not support our Party or listen to our message. The enemy will use our mistakes and shortcomings to vilify and discredit us in the eyes of the people. Instead of leading we will become another obstacle to the people’s liberation.

This too is why the Party must be open to the scrutiny and criticism of the masses, transparent in its relations with them and willing to rectify its errors, humbly and honestly demonstrating that we are servants of the people. As Cabral said, “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes or failures. Claim no easy victories.”9)

Conclusion

Hopefully, this will give Party comrades and supporters a clearer picture of the importance of cadre training and development and the kind of leadership we need to develop. We are serious about revolution, and we see a revolutionary situation developing in the period ahead of us. This is a time of preparation, a time of laying a strong foundation. If you have what it takes, join us!

Dare to Struggle! Dare to Win!

All Power to the People!

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Safiya Bukhari, The War Before: The True Story of Becoming A Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting for Those Left Behind, (Feminist Press, 2010), p. 37 [↩]

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BOOKS BY KEVIN “RASHID” JOHNSON

PANTHER VISION

Panther Vision: Essential Party Writings and Art of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, Minister of Defense New Afrikan Black Panther Party

"The original Black Panther Party for Self-Defense challenged the prevailing socio-political and economic relationship between the government and Black people. The New Afrikan Black Panther Party is building on that foundation, and Rashid’s writings embrace the need for a national organization in place of that which had been destroyed by COINTELPRO and racist repression. We can only hope this book reaches many, and serves to herald and light a means for the next generation of revolutionaries to succeed in building a mass and popular movement.” --Jalil Muntaqim, Prisoner of War

"Your mission (should you decide to accept it) is to buy multiple copies of this book, read it carefully, and then get it into the hands of as many prisoners as possible. I am aware of no prisoner-written book more important than this one, at least not since George Jackson s Blood In My Eye. Revolutionaries and those considering the path of progress will find Kevin Rashid Johnson s Defying The Tomb an important contribution to their political development." --Ed Mead, former political prisoner, George Jackson Brigade

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